How to Paint the Walls of Your RV
This post was originally posted in 2017, but updated in 2023.
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Not gonna lie, painting the interior of our RV pretty much SUCKED.
I think there were numerous times that I told Eric if we ever have to paint the inside of an RV again, we’ll pay someone to do it.
Yeah, it sucked that much. Then again we painted all of the cabinets too and some of them more than once after discovering the water leak in the ceiling.
But you know what? We would probably still paint the interior ourselves because as much work as it was, the payoff was soooooo worth it!
In fact, I would say painting the RV walls, ceiling, vents, and cabinets gave us the biggest bang for our buck, being that it completely changed the overall feel of the space.
How to Paint the Walls of your RV
While I admit painting the interior of an RV can be tedious and tiring, it’s also an affordable way to change the overall feel of the space. In other words, it’s worth it!
Most RV interior walls are constructed from luan plywood sheets with a wallpaper texture adhered to them, which you don’t want to remove, but can paint over.
However, other areas, like your kitchen or bathroom walls may have an additional wallpaper border added on top of this, which can be removed. This seems to be the case in most RVs, especially older models.
My advice for painting the walls in your RV is to make time to prep the areas first, as this will help ensure a quality paint job that will last. Be sure to make any repairs beforehand, and then clean all surfaces with a degreaser such as TSP or Simple Green, which may help eliminate the need for scuff sanding. And because your RV walls are likely made of vinyl-covered plywood or wood veneer, using a bonding primer, such as PPG Gripper, before you paint is highly recommended. Afterward, you can add your final paint color. I recommend two coats for the best results.
Supplies/Tools
Here are the supplies you’ll need to make your own burlap roller shades:
- Sandpaper – for scuff sanding
- Spackling – to fill in nail holes or use in repairs
- Degreaser such as TSP or Simple Green
- Gloves/Eye Protection/Safety Gear if you plan to use TSP, TSP substitute, or paint sprayer
- Painter’s Tape
- Bonding Primer: Popular Options include PPG Gripper Primer, Kilz Bonding Primer, Stix Bonding primer, and Glidden Gripper Primer.
- Top Coat Paint in the Sheen you want
- Paint Tray, Rollers, and Brushes: I HATE getting bristles or little furries in my paint – Purdy and Wooster Brushes and Rollers are my favorite.
- Paint Sprayer/protective gear- optional, but if I ever paint another RV interior white I will go this route!
Before you do any of the steps below, I recommend getting your favorite music station or podcast station set-up, as well as your beverage of choice. It makes the painting process so much more enjoyable.
Step 1: Remove Wallpaper Borders
First thing’s first, remove any wallpaper borders you don’t want to keep up. However, keep in mind that there’s a MAJOR difference between the wallpaper texture all of the walls have, and the bordered wallpaper added on top of that. The interior walls of your motorhome are likely made of some sort of luan plywood that has a wallpaper texture adhered to them which is NOT removable, at least as far as I know. We just painted over ours using the steps below.
This seems to be the case in most RV’s and campers, but I’ve seen some with wallpapered accent walls, so I would just look closely before attempting to pry it off. We removed the borders, but not the actual “wallpaper” that’s adhered to the walls of the RV — you don’t want to try and tear that off. This is why bonding primer comes in handy, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
You can read about how we removed the wallpaper borders here.
Step 2: protect surfaces
If you haven’t done so already, make sure you’ve removed anything you don’t want to be painted, like outlet covers and tape around edges you don’t want to be painted, such as window frames (we may or may not have done this, but it wasn’t anything a magic eraser or rubbing alcohol couldn’t take care of).
Don’t forget to cover the flooring with tarps, or any furniture you don’t want to accidentally splatter with paint.
Step 3: Repair/Scuff Sand
Repair any wall damage and fill nail or screw holes with a paintable wood filler or spackling. Afterward, lightly sand the area and any other imperfections.
You can take this one step further and lightly sand all of the walls in the RV that you plan to paint. The point of sanding the walls is to create a smooth surface, remove shine, and give the paint something to grab onto, though a degreaser will help with some of these issues.
However, unless you’re trying to smooth out a highly textured or recently repaired area, this will be a speedy, gentle job using medium grit sandpaper. Don’t overthink this. In most cases, you will only be spending a few seconds on each surface.
And yes, you can even do this on non-wood surfaces. You may even want to consider using a pole sander to speed through the process, though it’s not necessary.
Step 4: degrease/clean the walls
Next, you’ll want to clean the walls with a degreaser to prepare them for paint. The most popular option for this seems to be TSP or TSP substitute, which is a degreaser and cleaning agent often used to prep walls before painting.
However, both are pretty toxic so be sure to wear gloves and eye protection if you go this direction.
To be honest, I had never used either of these products prior to owning an RV, but we went with TSP substitute because that’s what I kept reading about. I later realized that there are a ton of natural alternatives that you can use instead, including water/vinegar mixtures or even Simple Green Cleaning solution. If I were to do this again, I’d probably go that route, especially because you don’t have to wash it off afterward.
Basically, you’ll want to clean the walls and let them dry fully before painting, otherwise, your paint may not adhere properly.
Step 5: Prime
Once your walls are clean and dry it’s time to prime. Again, your RV walls are likely made of vinyl-covered plywood or wood veneer. And this is why using a bonding primer before you paint is highly recommended in RV’s.
Not all primers are created equal. Using paint with a primer mixed in is not the same as using a separate bonding primer, at least not when it comes to painting your RV interior.
Bonding primer sticks to a variety of challenging or slick surfaces, including vinyl, laminate, Formica, fiberglass, and wood paneling, and it comes in both water and oil-based options. The consistency is thicker than your average can of primer, so it can be slightly more challenging to work with, but the coverage is much better. This can also help smooth out any texture imperfections in the surface you paint.
Not only does primer remove funky smells, cover stains, and provide a smooth, even surface for your final paint color, but it gives the surface a consistent base and the paint something to adhere to. This is key! In other words, it can prevent your paint from peeling, cracking, or chipping later on down the road.
It can also help neutralize any sticky residue left behind after removing wallpaper (like those pesky borders), although I haven’t tried it before.
However, before you choose the type of primer to use, you’ll need to decide if you’ll be using an oil or water-based paint. While you can generally use a water-based paint over an oil-based primer, you don’t want to apply oil-based paint over a water-based primer. To keep it simple, a good rule of thumb is to stick to either water or oil-based primer and paints. For the best results, follow the manufacturer instructions and guidelines provided on the primer and paint purchased.
You’ll generally want to use two coats of bonding primer before applying two coats of paint (and if you plan to paint any surfaces a dark color, consider using a tinted primer.) Make sure you read the instructions for dry/cure time and that you are painting under optimal temperature conditions.
Popular bonding primer options amongst RVers include PPG Gripper, Kilz Adhesion Primer, INSL-X Stix Bonding Primer, and Glidden Gripper. In the last couple of years we have used PPG Gripper bonding primer, and the coverage is like night and day compared to the standard, water-based primer we previously used.
Step 6: Paint
It’s finally time to paint, yay! If you’re using a darker color you may only need one coat, but we went with Ultra Pure White in satin and did two coats.
If you plan to paint your walls white you may want to consider painting your ceiling white as well. Once our walls and cabinets were painted it looked like our ceiling, which seemed white before, now looked more beige. So we painted the ceiling using the same steps as above, and it made a HUGE difference in brightening up the space!
That’s pretty much it! I had no idea painting the walls in our RV was going to be a bigger task than painting the walls in our previous homes, especially considering how much smaller it is. I blame it on the need for extra coats of primer and getting into all the awkward nooks and crannies. The good news is everything has held up great since we painted and it was soooooooo worth it!
If you’re looking for an affordable way to make a HUGE impact in your RV, paint will definitely do just that!
What we would do differently
If we ever find ourselves needing to paint the interior of a camper in the future there is one major thing I would do differently…I would use a paint sprayer.
Yup. We even had two on hand during our reno, but to be honest, I was too lazy to cover everything up and didn’t realize painting was going to be so time-consuming. If you don’t have a sprayer and don’t want to splurge on an expensive option, you can always rent one. We definitely plan to use a paint sprayer next time around!
If you’re planning to paint the inside of your RV I hope you found this post helpful!
And if you’re looking for a more detailed guide on painting your RV interior (along with other RV interior tips and inspiration), be sure to check out my eBook, The Nomad’s Guide to Decorating!
Thanks for sharing. Can you tell me if I should use a special moisture / mildew resistant paint for the bathroom of my rv?
Just wondering how the paint is holding up? Any nicks or paint falling off? We’re getting ready to paint the RV and have no iea what steps to do. I’ve heard sanding isn’t necessary, too, but then so many other people claim it is.
We were thinking of just putting up paint without the primer but wondered what you thought? Did you try that anywhere? Do you know if the paint would stick to the walls without the primer?
I have remodeled a couple of RV’s in the past and am in the process of doing my third. The first time I lightly sanded the walls and the cabinets and then used a paint that had primer in the paint, It looked great but the paint peeled off in strips. It was awful . I had to peel it all off and try again. That is when I tried that Gripper paint and it made all the difference. Now I use TSP (which actually etches the surface so you don’t need to sand), Gripper primer, then paint. While it may sound like a lot of work, if you don’t you may end up like my first time and have to do it all over again and nobody wants that!
This comment really helped me because this is the exact mistake I made! I’ve been trying to look up what I did wrong but I appreciate this so much! Did you have to take off all the previous paint or did you just paint over some of it?
Our walls and ceiling are holding up great so far. The walls of our RV had a wallpaper type material adhered to them (not removable) so while I had never sanded and primed walls before, we felt it was worth the extra time to prep the walls. Did using TSP or sanding make a difference? It’s hard to say but using primer definitely helped cut down on the number of coats! There was one section where I was lazy and decided to paint without primer. Luckily it was a small section but after 4 coats the coverage was still crappy and that’s when I realized primer was going to be key. Painting an RV is no joke, it made me never want to paint again… or at least fort a long, long time, haha. All I know is the process did suck, but the results were totally worth it. Hope that helps!
Katie
I found your blog yesterday via Pintrest… and am basically obsessed. LOVE your remodel and hanging on every little word. The best step by step tutorials I’ve yet to find!! So excited to follow along on your adventures and hopefully begin to tackle renovating my 27 foot bumper tow travel trailer! I’d love to see some RV organization ideas in a future post someday! Clothing, cupbords, bathroom, under the RV storage, tools, etc!
Thank you so much Melissa! While we’re still learning the best way to organize certain areas so that they flow with how we move throughout the RV, we definitely plan to share an updated RV tour talking about this in more detail soon. I’m definitely happy we saved some of these projects until we were actually living in the RV though, because it’s difficult to know exactly how you’ll use a space… until you use the space. Haha 🙂
Paint the walls and the cabinetry. Which would you do first?
We sort of did both of ours at the same time, although we finished the walls before we finished the cabinets. I don’t know if it really matters, but I’d either paint it all at the same time or paint the walls first because you’ll be amazed how much that changes the way the space feels. 🙂
We are getting ready to paint our rv and I was wondering what you used to fill in holes where the old valances/curtains were? We will NOT be putting them back up, and instead ordered some roller shades from Bilnds.com, per your recommendation. My concern is if regular caulk has to much mousture in it and if it will cause problems down the road.
We actually used a vinyl spackling and it seemed to work really well. Once dry we lightly sanded and then painted over it.
Planning on refurbishing our 5th wheel soon. Want to do it ourselves and are wondering about how much the cost might be.
Hey Michele, it’s awesome to hear you’ll be refurbishing your 5th wheel, there’s nothing like making your space feel like your own. As far as budget goes it’s going to depend on a lot of different aspects, a big one is how much you intend to change. But then again it will also depend on what products you intend to use, if you plan to do the work yourself or have someone else do it. I’d look at your space and ask yourself how much do you want to spend and how much can you spend, then start from there.
Our budget was roughly around $5,000 though we came in under that, at the same time we spread our renovation out over a longer time period.
What steps did you take to prep the wood/faux wood surfaces and cabinets in your rv?
We basically did the same as you see in this post – lightly sand, tsp, good primer, and then paint. The frame of our cabinets are laminate so we had to do this process on those. Hope this helps but let me know if you find any other helpful tips 🙂
Katie
I’m looking to do the same in my fifth wheel. I hadn’t planned on doing the ceiling but that seems like a good idea now. I’m wondering if you painted the vinyl/rubber/plasticy strips that connect the ceiling and walls? If so did they paint nicely?
Hey Cassia, we did paint those connecting strips. We ended up putting the same number of coats on them as the ceiling and they seem to be holding up great so far.
Did you take off the strips and paint them separately and later put them back up or did you just paint it as one part? Did it crack on the seams?
Thanks for your wonderful blog!
Your posts are great! We have a 2006 Tiffin Allegro that needs updating and the TV removal is at the top of my list. Well that and the carpeting…but now that I’ve seen your blog this may turn into a major project. Your posts are the best I’ve found. Thank you!
Thank you so much Diane! Once you get started with some smaller projects it’s easy to just keep going and going. If the tv in your RV is anything like ours the post below may be helpful for you, I know when we were trying to remove ours it took awhile to figure out how to get it down.
https://mountainmodernlife.com/remove-the-tv/
Thanks for swinging by the blog and I hope it helps. Best Wishes, Eric
Thank you SO much for posting these…you are a life saver to me 🙂 I am renovating a 2000 Mallard Fleetwood travel trailer. I am in the early stages, but did your RV have the little plastic molding on the top of the interior walls? I thought it was an electrical cord at first, but it’s molding or trim? (And so ugly). Did yours have it and did you remove it? I plan to and as I have never RV’ed before I just wanted to make sure its not there for some other reason than aesthetics. Thank you!!! Alex
Hey Alex, thanks for swinging by the blog and I’m glad you found it helpful. So our trim pieces at the top of our walls are actually made of wood, but from looking at ours I feel as though they are just for aesthetics and can be replaced. We removed ours and painted them but then put them back in place. One thing that is important to know about RVs is that every single one seems to be completely different, so if you ever find yourself stuck without being able to find a solid answer we’d suggest reaching out to your manufacturer. They are generally pretty good about answer questions. Hope this helps and please feel free to reach back out if you have any other questions. Best Wishes, Eric
We just bought a 1993 camper and the wallpaper (original stuff so attached to the plywood) is rippled in many areas. How do I prepare that for painting? If I have to sand it off then what do I use to fill in to make it smooth? So confused on how to tackle this project but love our new/old little camper Thanks
Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with this but found a couple links that may be help:
http://goneoutdoors.com/repair-wallpaper-damage-travel-trailer-6926348.html
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=10100.0
You may also want to consider joining some RV Facebook groups and asking in there, chances are someone else has dealt with a similar issue. One of my faves is RV interior ideas: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rvinteriorideas/
Sorry I couldn’t be of more help, but let me know if you find a solution that works.
Thanks!
Katie
I just spent a lit 2 weeks tediously removing the wallpaper in pie 1990 Fleetwood Yukon wilderness trailer that we bought with our wedding gift money. The removal did damage the walls a little bit which I plan on spackling to repair but also revealed some water damaged walls that are now in need or repair. After consulting with a neighbor on how to best do that he asked what the plan for the walls was now that we had removed the wallpaper. We said pir plan was to paint it and he said that the plywood walls weren’t “a paintable surface”. After dwelling on that remark I looked to Google without much luck and new worries about how to protect the now naked wall from further water damage without the wallpaper to protect it. Any ideas on what to do now that I’ve removed the wallpaper? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hmmm, did you remove the “wallpaper” border or the wallpaper that’s attached to the luan plywood used for the walls? The textured wallpaper that is on all of the plywood walls isn’t something you would want to remove, but is definitely paintable. We only removed our wallpaper borders, like those in the kitchen and bathroom, and then painted the rest of the RV which has that wallpaper style texture. Does that make sense?
Kathy, If you havent started that reno yet, maybe you would consider using a wall board , paneling bead board or something else like that to cover over that rippling wall paper, it would be easier than trying to remove it and maybe a solution. Its a thought, I too just purchased an older camper a 83 and to make it pretty its gonna be a total redo, top to bottom at least the previous owner did the structure work before selling , we have a lot of work ahead of us too, good luck I hope this helps or at least gives you some ideas.
Hey Sherri! We actually finished this up a while ago and while we removed the border in the kitchen, we did end up covering it with tongue and groove boards. Then in the bathroom we removed the wallpaper and painted over it. To be honest, ours wasn’t too bad or too ridiculously sticky, like others I’ve heard about. Sounds like you have a fun project ahead of you, keep us posted!
Wondering how the paint on the walls, specifically the painted seam over the strips between the wall panels, has held up when the unit has been taken down the road? Did it crack?
The paint is doing great, and I haven’t noticed any issues around the seams of the wall panels. No cracking thus far either 🙂
I’m looking into Beyond Paint for our RV renovation. Do you have any experience with that?
I don’t, but if you use it I’d love to hear about your experience!
Hey guys I’m trying to do the same thing you’ve done. I wanted to know, did you sand every nook and cranny of your cabinets and walls before priming or did you just sand in the major wall areas? If you only sanded the major areas, did the primer take to those little small areas of the cabinets and walls that you didn’t sand or get to? I’ll be using tsp on everything before painting BTW. Is doing that going to be enough for those unsanded areas? Sorry for so many questions but I’m kind of worried that I haven’t done a good enough job of sanding. Lol. Honestly a lot of my questions aren’t so good to text in, I hate texting. But if you could answer these it’d be great. Just email me. That’s for your blog an videos. Theyhave helped out a lot.
We did a quick sanding – literally a quick run over everything with sandpaper and didn’t get too crazy because we knew we were using primer or chalk paint. As long as you use a good gripper primer you shouldn’t have to get too crazy with the sandpaper. Hope that helps 🙂
Katie
There is also paint lots made especially for cabinetry that work great. Can be found at any home improvement store. They ca assortment of colors.
Hello Mountaineers,
I’m three days into my floor to ceiling repainting of my 26ft travel trailer. I can’t begin to thank you enough for giving me the courage to take a stand against dingy, dark vinyl wood and beige brown walls. Your blog posts have been a great source of inspiration and know how, and played a big part in getting my wife on board with the overhaul. Also, your new puppy is cute as a button.
The first roadblock I’ve come across is silicone that has been used to seal the counters and shower stall in the bathroom. It won’t accept the paint, so now that my walls are a beautiful bright white, I’ve got this ring around the counters, and the shower stall that the old tan still shows through. I’m thinking of adding a backsplash, or some sort of quarter round to cover it, and complete my remodel, but I was wondering if you had any ideas, or suggestions, short of cutting the silicone out and replacing with a paintable caulk.
Hey Paul, thanks for reaching out and I’m glad to hear the information was helpful and you’re making the travel trailer your own :). As for your first roadblock I think you could pursue both of those options. I think a quarter round could work, though we’ve found in the smaller place they can sometimes feel a bit bulky. With that said there are other trims out there that may give you the look you’d like. You can check out this post on our Kitchen Backsplash to see some of the trims we used (https://mountainmodernlife.com/wood-planked-kitchen-backsplash/). Taking out the old silicone and replacing it with paintable caulk could work as well but that’d be much more time consuming, though they do have silicone removal tools at your local hardware store that could help. I hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions I might be able to clear up. Best Wishes, Eric.
My husband and I just bought a 26′ 2006 Dutchmen. I just finished with the second coat of primer and I’m amazed at how long it took me, and how much primer! Those little nooks and crannies really calculate to a lot of surface area! Thank you so much for all of your detailed info. Your rv looks amazing and it’s a real inspiration. I’m doing the remodel by myself and am really nervous, but I’m waist high into it already so there’s no turning back now! Safe journey ahead ?
Thank you so much Kim! We’re glad the information has been helpful. You’re 100% right about the amount of paint and time it takes to paint an RV, it seems like it’s never ending :). Try not to be nervous about it, everything you do is a step in the right direction and when you’re done it’ll all be worth it, plus if you make a mistake you can always fix it haha, best wishes on the rest of your project.
Did you use the same “BEHR Marquee Ultra Pure White in Satin finish” for the walls and the upper white cabinets? I don’t want to have to worry about cutting in between the upper white cabinets and the walls.
Hi Tara! Yup, we used the same paint throughout the RV, mainly because we had a 5 gallon bucket of it and we wanted it all to match 🙂
I was wondering if you remember about how many gallons of paint it took to paint the interior of the rv. I am getting ready to paint ours this week. I’m fixing to head out to Lowe’s.
Hmmm, I don’t remember exactly but we did have a 5 gallon bucket that we didn’t completely use up. Then again, we also had a couple gallon buckets so it’s possible we used those first? Sorry, I don’t remember because I already had the paint sent to us from BEHR since we had worked with them previously on other projects in our rental home. I would say maybe 5 gallons total of white paint (but maybe closer to 3?)? Whatever you do make sure you use a good gripping primer! Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
Really great tutorials and information. Thank you!!
Hi, I was wondering if anyone used a sprayer to paint the walls or you roll it on?
Thanks, Renee
Hi Renee! We considered using a sprayer but at the time were too lazy to properly cover everything so we just rolled the paint on. Looking back we had no idea how time consuming it would be so spraying is definitely a great option! I don’t know if you follow 188 sqft but they recently painted the inside of their camper with a sprayer and mentioned it on Instagram so you may want to check out their post or follow up with them 🙂
https://www.instagram.com/188sqft/
Katie
You have probably answered this question already, but I’m going to ask again. Lol so I did all the sanding/cleaning before I primed. I used Glidden Gripper. It’s been almost 24 hours since I primed, I started painting with the Behr Marquee, I started cutting in, working in small sections, I went to start rolling, and it was so tacky and sticky and just peeled off. What did I do wrong, I’m so frustrated! Lol please help!
Yikes! I am so sorry because that is the last thing anyone wants to happen, especially after spending so much time prepping. To be honest, I don’t know.
I do know that primer can take 7-10 days to fully cure so I wonder if that had anything to do with it? Although I think we painted pretty soon after priming (I’m impatient) and then were just really careful not to accidentally hit or scratch the cabinets after they were painted until fully cured. We used Kilz primer but I’d say 99% of the people I’ve talked to used the Gripper primer and highly recommend it. Can you check to see if the directions on the primer say to wait a certain amount of time before painting? This is the only thing I can think of. I also know water-painted primers dry quicker than oil-based primer or paints (we stick to water-based). Let me know if you figure it out and I’m so sorry!
Katie
Hi. Wondered why everybody is waiting 24 hrs after priming to paint when I’ve always waited just 1 hr per directions. Is it different because an rv has wallpaper? Just about to start the process and I want to get it right.
Hey Lisa! Sometimes primer can take 1-7 days to cure so it’s really just an extra precaution to make sure the surface doesn’t get scratched or peel off. To be honest, we don’t always do this (depending on the surface we’re painting and how impatient we’re feeling), but we mostly painted the walls later in the day/evening so we just let it sit overnight before painting the next day. It depends on the type of paint you’re using (the directions may differ) and doing what you’re comfortable with or what has worked well for you in the past. 🙂
I would say humidity affected the drying time.
I think you’re right, moisture can definitely delay the drying process.
Did you consider spraying the paint on with a professional sprayer? Do you think that would be easier or harder with all the nooks and crannies? We’re getting ready to buy and renovate and I LOVE your site 🙂 Hoping to journal our renovation as well if we ever find the right RV! I feel like that is the hardest part!
We did consider it, but to be honest were too lazy to cover everything up. Although it really wouldn’t have taken much longer than moving everything in our garage back and forth. I know 188 Square Feet painted their camper with a sprayer and it turned out awesome! You may want to reach out to them for some tips 🙂
https://www.instagram.com/188sqft/
Good luck on your search and keep us posted!
Katie
Hello, wow a lot of awesome info here. I’ve been reading it quite quickly as I too am an impatient human. I’m wanting to paint the shower in our travel trailer, I believe the wall board is called luan. So do I just prep the shower by washing it down with tsp, painting it with the bonding gripper then paint? Thank you in advance for your help.
Hi Karen,
Hmmm, are you painting a wall in your bathroom or the actual shower? If painting the actual shower (and not luan plywood) you’ll want to use a different process. Here’s a post that may help:
https://gypsyrangers.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/rv-bathroom-updates-shower-tub-refinishing/amp/
Katie
our ceiling are some kind of short fuzzy material can I paint it and what kind of paint would you suggest
Hey Debbie, we lucked out with our ceiling not having any funky texture and to be honest I’m not sure what the best approach would be. You may want to consider checking RV facebook groups because I feel like a lot of people have this concern. One group you may want to check out is this one – https://www.facebook.com/groups/371164549760394/ – sorry we don’t have a better answer. But let us know what you find and how it works for you!
Any suggestions on how to deal with the outdated wall paper border? I don’t think it will peel off. If I paint over it, I’m afraid the border lines will show through.
Hey Gina, sorry for the delayed response sometimes things get lost! Anyway if you check out this post we talk about exactly how to remove that troublesome border you’re talking about. https://mountainmodernlife.com/remove-wallpaper-border/ Anyway I hope this helps and let us know if you have any other questions.
Just to clarify, you painted your vinyl ceilings the same way you painted the walls and you haven’t had any issues with flaking or cracking? We just bought a 2002 monaco that is a vision in beige 😂
Elisa
@goingoutwiththeboyds
Hey Elisa that is correct! We painted the ceilings following the same strategy as the walls! Hope that helps 🙂
I do have one minor suggestion about painting: Make sure you remove the window screens! Even if you are using rollers and brushes (I used a small electric Wagner Power Painter inside cabinets and closets), tiny particles of paint float. Cover your hair, eyes and clothing. You will probably want to open windows and even use a small fan for fresh air.. You can clean the glass and the frames, but the screens are toast if they have paint laden air blown through them. Like all professional painters, and as this post suggests, remove the switch plates and vent covers, Painting around and over those makes your finished job look amateurish. BTW, hiring this done would be wildly expensive.
This is a fantastic post! Looks so nice. I’m mid renovation and this has reinvigorated me! My older 5th wheel will serve as a “bunk house” for the grandchildren when they visit. It’s taking me a while (I’m 70, and I have a 19 yr old inexperienced helper), but I live in the Rockies and I’m going rustic on this. Your post was perfect for me! Thank you!
Hey Rebecca, great tip on removing the screens! We were lucky enough not to get any paint on ours, but I’d imagine it would’ve been a nightmare had we. What a great idea to create a bunkhouse for the grandkids 🙂 I think they’ll love it. Anyway thanks again for sharing the great tip!!
Paint the ceiling or walls first?
Ya know Andrew that is a great question! I think it’s going to totally depend on how you want to do it, for us it didn’t matter too much because we have a wood trim piece that covers where the ceiling and walls meet. So, we were able to be a little sloppy on where the paint met haha. Anyway, I hope this helps, best wishes!
Please pleaSe. How Was anyone handledthe tape that is on the wallpaper? Do You Remove it or paint over it? I’m afraid to start preparing my coach till i can get some help
Thank you
Thanks so much for all your videos….have been binge watching them for the past few days has we get ready to renovate our motorhome… I’m not seeing one on painting the cabinets….other than the tour which addresses color choices…but doesn’t say whether you used oil or water based enamel…there seems to be a difference of opinion among folks out there on which is better. You guys do an amazing job, in both your renovations and your videos. Did you ever find your mountain town to settle in?? Check out Quincy, California1 Thanks again for all you do.
Thank you for all your tips and suggestions. Would you recommend applying TSP or substitute if the RV is brand new?
While your RV is new and may not have much dirt/grime/grease on the walls, (which is what TSP, TSP substitute or alternatives remove), I personally would still probably do the step just in case. I don’t know that it’s necessary, but given how time-consuming the painting process can be, I’d rather be safe than sorry. Then again, it could turn out great and save you time. Either way, let us know what you end up doing and how it turns out!